water, but it became apparent, as the city grew, that resort must be had to other sources. The Seine was naturally looked to, and a Fleming, in Paris, as a Dutchman had in London, first provided the means of raising the waters of that river above its level. John LintlcBr* proposed to Henry IY., the construction of a pumping machine in the Seine, to be set in motion by the flow of its current, and, being engaged to perform the work, he succeeded in raising the water above the Pont Neuf, and thence, in distributing it to the Louvre, and the Tuilleries. This machine, or pump, was called the Samaritan, from the metal figures which decorated it. The success of this experiment led to the construction, in 1670, and 1671, of two similar machines at the Pont Neuf. It was not till 1778 that steam engines superseded this more cumbrous, and less efficient machinery. In that year, M. Perier erected two engines, one at Gros Caillou, the other at Chaillot, which forced up water in greater abundance, and supplied both fountains and other pub- lic and private establishments. Various schemes were from time to time put forth, to add to the supply of Paris, but without any result, till, in 1802, M. Girard, an eminent engineer, proposed to bring to the city, the waters of the river Ourcq, in an open canal. Bonaparte, then first consul, warmly approved this project, and a decree for its execution was signed in 1S02, and M. Girard was charged with the work. The water is taken from the Ourcq, at sixty miles from Paris. In its course, the canal receives the tribute of the Grisette, the Mai, the Therouanne, and the BeuvronneJ all which streams flow into its channel, which terminates in a spacious reservoir, near the Barrier de la Villette, This basin is about 3660 feet long, 366 broad, and 7 deep. Its banks are ornamented with a double row of trees. Two smaller canals flow from it, one to the arsenal, the other to St. Denis. LOAMI BALDWIN, ESQ., an eminent engineer of our own country, who constructed the naval dry docks at Charlestown, Mass., and at Norfolk, Va., has from personal examination, given this description of the Canal de L: Ourcq, and of the quantity and annual cost of water supplied to Paris : " The great and only considerable undertaking for supplying the city is the Ourcq Canal, which has been nearly twenty years in completing. It affords an abundant * Hydraulia, p. 270. t Hydraulia, p. 273. PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 55 supply. The canal begins at the River Ourcq, above 58 miles from Paris, and in its course takes in five or six other streams, or feeders. The trunk of the canal is 36.08 feet (11 metres] wide ; depth 8.20 feet (2. 50 metres) depth of water 4.92 feet (1.50 metres) and slope of the banks 1.50 base to 1 rise. The velocity of the water is calculated to be nearly thirteen inches a second, and the slope of the Canal about three and a half inches a mile. " It terminates in a large basin near the Barriere of Villette. From the south-west corner opens the St. Martin Canal, communicating with the Seine on the east side of Paris, and a short distance before coming to the basin, the St. Denis canal is opened, passing down to the Seine near that city, on the north side of Paris. " At the north-west corner of the basin is taken out the water for supplying the city by a subterranean canal or aqueduct on the north side of Paris, (aqueduc de ceinture,) nearly two miles and three quarters long. The work is in stone masonry, and the canal for the water is three feet three inches wide at bottom, five feet three inches deep, and four feet six inches wide at top. On one side is an off-set four inches wide, and on the other a foot-walk one foot six inches wide, making the whole breadth between the side walls above the trunk six feet four inches. These walls rise four feet six inches, covered with a semi-circular arch. At various points there are galleries and staircases, to descend to the subterranean aqueduct. I descended to examine the work with M. Girard, the engineer, by a flight of steps from the cellar of a house where one of the guardians resided. " Convenient arched passages are constructed under three principal streets, where one may walk, and where are laid the different mains taking water from the aqueduct, to conduct it to the various fountains and other points for distribution. They are laid upon stone blocks or cast iron frames, so that they may be easily examined all round, from one